{"id":1259283,"date":"2022-01-31T18:22:28","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T23:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1259283"},"modified":"2022-01-31T18:22:34","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T23:22:34","slug":"australian-truckers-organize-their-own-freedom-convoy-to-canberra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/australian-truckers-organize-their-own-freedom-convoy-to-canberra\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Truckers Organize Their Own \u2018Freedom Convoy\u2019 to Canberra"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Faustralian-truckers-organize-their-own-freedom-convoy-to-canberra%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1259283&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/273168867_6087686167932504_5665968479919832109_n-640x335-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\"><span>Australian truckers used social media over the weekend to plan their own \u201cFreedom Convoy\u201d similar to the one in Canada, telling supporters they should \u201cswarm to Canberra to protest mandates and restrictions\u201d on Monday. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A GoFundMe page for the convoy was frozen after raising over $160,000 to support the cause.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Truckies set to swarm to Canberra to protest mandates and restrictions.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AiUFhKccrA\">https:\/\/t.co\/AiUFhKccrA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OzraeliAvi\/status\/1487291585352323073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 29, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Images shared on Telegram of the convoy bound for Canberra today. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NKtvIEZ6GI\">pic.twitter.com\/NKtvIEZ6GI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Daniel James Dulhunty (@dulhunty) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dulhunty\/status\/1487951626011045896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Trucking website <\/span><span>Big Rigs<\/span><span> <a href=\"https:\/\/bigrigs.com.au\/index.php\/2022\/01\/30\/australias-version-of-canadas-freedom-convoy-heads-to-canberra\/\">noted<\/a> on Sunday that judging by social media posts, the \u201cvast majority\u201d of Australia\u2019s \u201ctruckies\u201d are \u201cdouble-vaxxed and have diligently complied with health orders for the last couple of years.\u201d Only a \u201csmall minority\u201d of posts related to the protest appeared to come from professional truck drivers.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>Big Rigs quoted Australia\u2019s National Road Freighters Association expressing concerns with how a massive convoy would affect Canberra\u2019s traffic and infrastructure, particularly the service and rest areas dedicated to truckers.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Anti-vaccine mandate protesters are on their way to Australia&#8217;s capital as part of the &#8216;Canberra Convoy&#8217;, inspired by recent Canadian rallies, but there&#8217;s already confusion within the group. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/auspol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#auspol<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/baU4io5XMb\">pic.twitter.com\/baU4io5XMb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 10 News First (@10NewsFirst) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/10NewsFirst\/status\/1487951169100345346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The GoFundMe page for Australia\u2019s convoy was launched by an anonymous individual called \u201cIronbark Thunderbolt.\u201d According to the page, all of the funds raised would be given to an individual named James Greer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/science\/2022-01-31\/gofundme-freezes-canberra-covid-truck-convoy-money\/100792930\">identified<\/a> by Australia\u2019s <\/span><span>ABC News<\/span><span> as a \u201cdoomsday prepper\u201d who planned to drive a camper to Canberra.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMoney will be withdrawn into James\u2019 account and the team will gather receipts and information from those in need for reimbursement or transfer. Transfers will then be made directly to the people in need. Our lawful team are happy to deal with any discrepancies,\u201d the fundraising page said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Both media outlets and GoFundMe managers asked for more details about these financial arrangements, but there was no public response from either Greer or \u201cIronbark Thunderbolt.\u201d According to ABC News, some convoy participants used Facebook to voice \u201cconfusion and frustration\u201d with their inability to collect reimbursement for their expenses from the GoFundMe account as promised.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>On Monday, GoFundMe froze the $160,000 raised by the campaign until its creator \u201ccompletes the verification process, and is able to provide documentation to our team about how funds will be distributed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A GoFundMe spokesperson later warned that \u201cfundraisers raising money to promote misinformation about vaccines violate GoFundMe\u2019s terms of service and will be removed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The demonstration, variously billed as \u201cMillions March Against Mandatory Vaccination\u201d and \u201cThe 2022 Official Convoy to Canberra Terra Australis,\u201d produced a crowd of about 800 demonstrators who marched from Canberra\u2019s Federation Mall to Parliament House, where they held a rally, listened to speeches, sang defiant songs, and demanded to speak with a parliamentary representative. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The crowd drew close enough to the Parliament building to make Australian Federal Police nervous, even though the legislature will not be in session until next week. Some attendees told ABC News they planned to camp on the lawn until Parliament was in session.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>Canberra Times<\/span><\/i> <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canberratimes.com.au\/story\/7600549\/anti-vaxxers-gathered-at-parliament-house-holding-trump-signs\/\">described<\/a> the scene on Monday:<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Protesters were seen waving the red ensign flag, flags in support of Donald Trump, the Canadian flag and the Knights Templar flag.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Australian red ensign flags \u2013 which is the same as the Australian flag but for the color \u2013 has been co-opted by self-described \u2018sovereign citizens\u2019. They are a group of people who believe laws do not apply to them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>People also held signs, saying this such as \u201cEnd The Mandates\u201d and \u201cNo Jabs 4 Jobs\u201d. Another said, \u201cif liars\u2019 pants really did catch fire, watching the news would be a lot more entertaining\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>A protest leader named Romeo Georges complained the Australian government \u201cgave you money, they told you \u2018we love you, we care about you\u2019 and then they come for your kid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf you want to take [COVID in] your immune system, it\u2019s your right to do that,\u201d Georges said, as quoted by the <\/span><i><span>Canberra Times.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hundreds of anti-vaxxers have reached the front doors of Parliament House protesting against COVID jabs. Members of the Convoy to Canberra drove thousands of kilometres to the capital. 7NEWS Adelaide at 6pm | <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8ftPfGh39Y\">https:\/\/t.co\/8ftPfGh39Y<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/7NEWS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#7NEWS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cyBjW3USeI\">pic.twitter.com\/cyBjW3USeI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/7NewsAdelaide\/status\/1488059296219025410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cUnlike the Canadian convoy, there was hardly a truck in sight in Canberra on Monday,\u201d Australia\u2019s <\/span><span>New Daily<\/span><span> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenewdaily.com.au\/news\/national\/2022\/01\/31\/canberra-convoy-anti-vax-parliament\/\">observed<\/a>, quoting \u201cinstigators\u201d who said they \u201crebranded the movement\u201d when it became clear they would not have the level of support from professional truckers enjoyed by the Canadian convoy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe\u2019re not a Canada \u2013 we\u2019re going to have a lot of trucks, but we\u2019ve got a lot of people with caravans and families and four-wheel drives. Don\u2019t expect to see big convoys of trucks \u2013 we may, I think we\u2019re going to have a fair few. But this is a people thing, and the people don\u2019t all drive trucks,\u201d explained organizer David Graham.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian truckers used social media over the weekend to plan their own \u201cFreedom Convoy\u201d similar to the one in Canada, telling supporters they should \u201cswarm to Canberra to protest mandates &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1259283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1259283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1259283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1259283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1259283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}